Dealing with a wayward child is one of the hardest things about parenting. If a beloved son or daughter shows up at home only to ask for money or calls from jail asking for bail, the parents may say “yes” the first few times. But eventually they conclude that granting the requests further enables self-destruction. The hard but kind thing to do is to turn a deaf ear.

God takes his relationship with us very seriously. He desires to win our hearts and allegiance with generosity. But when that approach fails, God often says no until we recognize the importance of a right relationship with him. He has no desire to be an impersonal vendor of favors. It’s when we repent and give him our allegiance that our prayers can be heard and answered.